Barrie M. North has more than 20 years of experience with the Internet as a user, designer, and teacher. He has spent more than 8 years in the education field, becoming steadily more involved in web technology, teaching web design classes to students and technology integration to teachers. Most recently, he worked as an IT consultant for two new schools pioneering the use of technology. As well as web design, he has provided web marketing/SEO, usability, and standards compliance expertise to his clients.
He is a founder of Joomlashack.com, one of the oldest and most popular Joomla template providers, and a founder of SimplWeb.com, a service that provides easy-to-use, turnkey Joomla hosting for those new to Joomla. He also maintains a blog about all things Joomla at CompassDesigns.net. When not working, he can frequently be found on the Joomla community boards, and he has written many free tutorials for using Joomla. His combination of Joomla expertise, educational skills, and engaging writing has produced a book accessible to everyone.
Preface xvii
Acknowledgments xxv
About the Author xxvi
Chapter 1: Content Management Systems and an Introduction to Joomla! 1
What Is a Content Management System? 2
Static Web Pages 2
Web Pages with CSS 3
Dynamic Web Pages 4
Open Source Software 7
History of Joomla! 8
The Joomla! Community 9
Third-Party Extensions Development 9
Joomla!’s Features 9
Elements of a Joomla! Website 11
Content 11
Templates 13
Modules 14
Summary 14
Chapter 2: Downloading and Installing Joomla! 17
How to Install Joomla! 18
Obtaining the Latest Joomla! File Package 18
Joomla! Package Naming Conventions 20
Creating a MySQL Database 21
Unpacking the Joomla! Package 21
Unpacking Joomla! on a Local Desktop Computer 21
Unpacking Joomla! on a Hosting Account 25
Running the Joomla! Installation Wizard 26
Getting to the Joomla! Installer 26
Step 1: Language 26
Step 2: Pre-Installation Check 27
Step 3: License 28
Step 4: Database Configuration 29
Step 5: FTP Configuration 30
Step 6: Main Configuration 30
Step 7: Finish 33
Summary 34
Chapter 3: Joomla! Administration Basics 35
What Are the Frontend and Backend of a Joomla!-Powered Website? 36
The Menu Bar 38
The Toolbar 38
The Workspace 40
Administrator Functions in the Menu Bar 40
The Site Submenu 41
Users Menu 45
The Menus Menu 48
The Content Menu 49
The Components Submenu 53
The Extensions Menu 54
The Help Menu 58
View Site 59
Summary 60
Chapter 4: Content Is King: Organizing Your Content 63
How Does Joomla! Generate Web Pages? 64
How Joomla! Organizes Content Articles 66
Uncategorized Articles 67
Categories 67
A Sample Hierarchy 69
Creating the Widget Inc. Website with Uncategorized Content 70
Creating Content Articles 72
Creating Menu Items 75
The Featured Article Component 80
Creating the Widget Inc. Website with Categories 85
Creating Categories 86
Creating Content Article 86
Creating Menu Items 90
Linking to Components 92
“Read More” Links and Individual Pages 95
Module Content 97
Summary 100
Chapter 5: Creating Menus and Navigation 103
How Menu Modules Work 104
What Menu Items Do 105
Creating a Menu Item 106
Where Does a Menu Item Link? 107
What Does a Page Look Like After a Link Is Followed? 108
Blog Layout 109
Blog Layout Parameters 110
List Layout for a Blog 114
Category List Advanced Options 114
Managing Menu Modules in the Module Manager . 116
Show Title 116
Position 118
Access 118
Menu and Module Class Suffixes (Advanced Options) 118
Menu Assignment 118
Summary 119
Chapter 6: Extending Joomla! 121
Extensions 122
Installing Extensions 123
Managing Extensions 125
Components 126
Core Component 127
Third-Party Components 128
Modules 128
Module Display 128
Core Modules 130
Third-Party Modules 132
Plug-ins 133
Core Plug-ins 133
Third-Party Plug-ins 134
Templates 134
Core Templates 134
Third-Party Templates 134
Summary 135
Chapter 7: Expanding Your Content: Articles and Editors 137
WYSIWYG Editors 138
Managing WYSIWYG Editors 139
Other Third-Party Editors 142
Creating and Managing Articles 143
Managing Content Through the Backend 144
Adding Content from the Backend 146
Inserting Images into Content 153
Category Descriptions 156
Managing Content Through the Frontend 159
Creating a Frontend User Menu 159
Limiting Access to Menus by User Level 163
Authors 165
Editors 167
Publishers 169
Article Checkin
Summary 171
Chapter 8: Getting Traffic to Your Site 175
Start at the Beginning: Site Goals 176
Organic Traffic (SEO) 177
Introduction to Google 180
Creating Keywords 181
Keywords and Domain Name 184
Designing Your Site for Organic Traffic 184
Advanced SEO Techniques 192
Referral Traffic 196
Google PageRank 196
Other Link-Building Strategies 198
Internal Linking 199
Pay Per Click Traffic 202
How Google AdWords Works 203
Joomla! and AdWords 205
Email Traffic 207
Third-Party Hosted Email Solutions 209
Joomla! SEF Extensions 210
Quick Start SEO for Joomla! 210
Summary 210
Chapter 9: Creating Pure CSS Templates 213
What Is a Joomla! Template? 214
The Localhost Design Process 216
Localhost Server Options 217
W3C and Tableless Design 218
Semantically Correct Code 219
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) 220
Creating a Simple Template: 960TemplateTutorialStep1 220
Template File Components 221
The Joomla! Page Body 231
Using CSS to Create a Tableless Layout: CSSTemplateTutorialStep2 234
Default CSS 239
Modules in Templates 241
Menus in Templates 246
Hiding Columns 250
Making a Real Joomla! 1.6 Template: 960TemplateTutorialStep3 256
Slicing and Dicing 256
Header 257
The Banner/Message Module 257
Column Backgrounds 258
Flexible Modules 260
Typography 261
Summary 263
Chapter 10: Creating a School Site with Joomla! 265
Why Do You Need a School Website? 266
Students 266
Teachers and Administrators 267
Parents 267
Potential Students and Their Parents 267
What Features Do You Need on a School Site? 268
Downloading and Installing a School Template 268
Fresh Template Features and Positions 270
Configuring a Logo 271
Configuring the Search Box 271
Configuring the Main Horizontal Drop-Down Menu 272
Organizing Content on a School Website 274
Creating the Menus 279
Building Out Content 283
Creating Subnavigation 284
The Academics Submenu 285
Creating News Links for a Section 287
Setting Up the Footer Area 289
Setting Up the Home Page 291
Adding Basic Functionality to a School Website 293
User Registration 293
Events Calendar 295
Downloadable Documents 295
Staff Directory 295
Email Newsletter 296
RSS 297
Random Image
Sitemap 298
Extending the School Website Beyond the Basics 298
Summary 300
Chapter 11: Creating a Restaurant Site with Joomla! 301
Why Does a Restaurant Need a Website? 302
What Features Does a Restaurant Website Need? 302
Downloading and Installing a Restaurant Template 304
Organizing the Content on a Restaurant Website 306
Building Content Articles with Lorem Ipsum 309
Setting Up the Home Page 310
Home Page Alternative to the Featured Article Manager 310
Creating Menus 311
Creating Footer Content 316
Creating Module Teaser Blocks 317
Using Stock Imagery 319
Extending a Restaurant Website 321
Image Gallery: JPG Flash Rotator 2 322
Email Marketing 323
Google Maps 323
Summary 323
Chapter 12: Creating a Blog with Joomla! 325
What Is a Blog? 326
Why Have a Blog? 327
What Options Are There for Blogging? 327
What Features Are Needed on a Blog Site? 328
Downloading and Installing a Blog Template 330
Optimus Template Features and Positions 331
Configuring the Logo 332
Configuring the Main Horizontal Drop-Down Menu 334
Organizing Content on a Blog 335
Organizing a Blog Within a Larger Site 335
Organizing a Standalone Blog 336
About Tagging 338
Creating the Menus 338
Adding Dynamic Modules 342
Adding Static Modules 345
Adding Basic Functionality to a Blog 346
Flexible Layout 346
Browser-Based Editing 347
Automated Publishing 347
Categories 347
Search Engine—Friendly URLs 347
Comment Systems 348
Syndication Feeds 348
Email Notification 350
Search 350
Extending a Blog Website Beyond the Basics 351
Forums 351
E-commerce 352
Summary 353
Appendix A: Getting Help 355
Community Forums 355
Help Sites 356
Getting Help from Google 356
Appendix B: A Guide to Joomla! 1.6 ACL 357
Appendix C: A Quick Introduction to SEO 359
Keyword Use in Title Tag 359
Anchor Text of Inbound Link 359
Global Link Popularity of Site (PageRank) 359
Age of Site 360
Link Popularity Within the Site 360
Topical Relevance of Inbound Links and Popularity of Linking Site 360
Link Popularity of Site in Topic Community 361
Keyword Use in Body Text 361
File Size 361
Clean URL 362
Utilize Your Error Pages 362
What’s Not Here? 362
Appendix D: Installing WampServer 363
Index 371
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